The present invention relates to a remote control toy vehicle, and more particularly, a remote control toy vehicle with independently controlled drive wheels.
Many remotely controlled toy vehicles attempt to duplicate well known vehicles, such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, racing vehicles, tanks, aircraft, space vehicles, and construction vehicles. With these so-called xe2x80x9creal lifexe2x80x9d vehicles, the goal is to imitate the functional characteristics, such as the movement, of the actual life-sized vehicle, but on a reduced scale vehicle. While these types of vehicles can entertain the user by imitating a real life vehicle, the range of motion of most xe2x80x9creal lifexe2x80x9d vehicles is somewhat limited and the movement of these vehicles follow a known behavior. Thus, the user may also desire a toy vehicle which does not behave like a known real life vehicle. That is, the user may be entertained by a vehicle that has a wide range of motion and moves in unusual and unexpected ways.
Thus, it is believed that a toy vehicle that has a wide range of motion and could move in unusual and unexpected ways would be desired.
The toy vehicle of the present invention has a wide range of motion and can move in unusual and unexpected ways. To that end and in accordance with the principles of the invention, the toy vehicle includes a chassis having front and rear portions with at least one wheel supporting the front portion of the chassis. The toy vehicle further includes spaced-apart swing arms connected to the rear portion of the chassis. Rear wheels are rotatably mounted to each end of the swing arms. The swing arms are independently movable with respect to the chassis between first and second positions. As a given swing arm moves between the first position to the second position, the rear wheel is moved forward with respect to the chassis. Two separate propulsion drives are operatively associated with the chassis and are drivingly coupled to the respective rear wheels. Each propulsion drive is adapted to independently drive, or spin, a respective rear wheel in either a first direction or a second opposite direction. A rear wheel spinning in the first direction tends to move the toy vehicle forward whereas a rear wheel spinning in the second direction tends to move the toy vehicle rearward. In one aspect of the invention, the toy vehicle may be remotely controlled by an operator with a radio transmitter transmitting appropriate radio frequency signals. Thus, to be remotely controlled, the toy vehicle would include a receiver adapted to receive the remotely generated radio frequency signals. The receiver would be operatively connected to each drive motor independently such that each drive motor could be operated independently of the other. Accordingly, an operator could, for example, drive one rear wheel in the first or forward direction while simultaneously driving the other rear wheel in the second or rearward direction.
In one aspect of the invention, the toy vehicle further includes an anti-tipping structure or wheelie bar affixed to at least one of the swing arms to prevent the toy vehicle from tipping backwards when both swing arms are in the second position. In the alternative, the wheelie bar could be affixed to the rear portion of the chassis to prevent the toy vehicle from tipping backwards.
In another aspect of the invention, the toy vehicle includes a self-righting member that extends from the chassis. The self-righting member is configured to enable at least one of the rear wheels to contact the support surface when the toy vehicle has flipped over to a non-upright position.
In another embodiment of the invention, the toy vehicle includes a wheeled steering mechanism supporting the front portion of the chassis. The wheeled steering mechanism includes an elongated member having a slot extending therethrough. The elongated member is pivotally connected to the front portion of the chassis. An axle extends through and is slidably movable within the slot. The axle has a wheel disposed at each of its opposite ends. As the toy vehicle moves in a forward direction, the axle slides rearwardly in the slot of the elongated member such that it is disposed rearwardly of the pivot connection of the elongated member. As such, the wheeled steering mechanism provides a castering effect when the toy vehicle is moving in a forward direction. The same castering effect is achieved when the toy vehicle moves rearward causing the axle to slide to a position forward of the pivot connection of the elongated member.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following Detailed Description and the accompanying drawings.